Middle Neighborhoods Action Agenda for a National Movement

In 2016, as part of its ongoing work to strengthen U.S. cities, The American Assembly of Columbia University initiated an investigation into middle neighborhoods-communities "on the edge" between success and decline-directed by Paul C. Brophy. Close to half of urban American lives in middle neighborhoods. These are places where housing is often affordable and where quality of life-measured by employment rates, crime rates, and school performance-is sufficiently good that new home buyers are willing to play the odds and choose these neighborhoods over others in hopes they will improve rather than decline. The investigation included publication of On the Edge: America's Middle Neighborhoods with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and a national book tour that culminated in a congressional briefing in May 2017. With this base of interest and support, local and national advocates were brought together for the "Middle Neighborhoods: Action Agenda for a National Movement" meeting in Baltimore on November 15 and 16, 2017. The Assembly was joined by the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy and Healthy Neighborhoods, Inc. in organizing the meeting in partnership with the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond at their Baltimore offices. This report is the summary of that meeting. Published by The American Assembly, March 2018.